India's anti-dumping hearing scheduled for July 18

Responding to the pleas of local Indian manufacturers India launched investigations into anti-dumping duties on solar cells from the U.S., China, Malaysia and Taiwan last year. An official hearing is now said to be scheduled for July 18.

Indian manufacturers have accused solar companies from U.S., China, Malaysia and Taiwan of selling solar products at extremely low prices in India.

Solarpraxis AG/Hans-Christoph Neidlein

The Solar Manufacturers Association which acts on behalf of Indian companies like Indosolar, Jupiter Solar Power and Websol Energy System filed the dumping claims in November. The allegations were that these countries were exporting solar products into India at prices that are too low.

The Economic Times of India reported today that a Commerce Ministry official told the media, "It is a complex case with over 100 companies involved. An initial hearing is scheduled for July 18 to understand the case better. We will start the investigations once the preliminary hearing is over."

Whether or not the anti-dumping duties will be imposed remains unclear. Founder and Director of RESolve Energy Consultants Madhavan Nampoothiri believes it is still too early to comment. He told pv magazine, "Since U.S. companies (mainly First Solar) are also being investigated, the dynamics of the investigation in India are a bit different from the anti-dumping charges in Europe and the U.S., both of which specifically targeted Chinese companies."

Analysts at Bridge to India stated in November last year that they estimate, based on previous anti-dumping duty investigations in India, that it will take at least five to six months for any duty to be notified by the Ministry of Commerce and another three months at least for the implementation to be undertaken by the Ministry of Finance. So the duties are not likely to be expected before August 2013.